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Plastics SSN

The Plastics SSN, founded in 2006, is an Arts Council England recognised Subject Specialist Network.

It aims to share expertise in the history, development, care and interpretation of plastics within and beyond the museum community, in order to enhance understanding of and engage varied audiences with the key role played by plastics in modern society.

In particular members wish to:

Facilitate and disseminate dialogue and debate on research methodologies in relation to plastics.

Increase use of plastics collections with an emphasis on learning and teaching.

Reach new audiences for plastics collections.

Collaborate on out-come based projects.

Learn from and involve the plastics and design industries in plastics' collections.

The Plastics SSN is managed by the Museum of Design in Plastics (MoDiP), Arts University Bournemouth, working to a Steering Group. Its members are:

The first two are offered as useful guides on the Collections Trust website. The third is an ongoing project of five years duration.

A survey of our members has shown that the most pressing subject not yet addressed by the SSN is synthetic textiles. It is hoped that funding to make the creation of such a resource will be forthcoming in due course.